The rest of the trip was as uneventful as any trip can be on the Grand Line.
It wasn't long before the stormy skies and rough waters of Wano appeared. Many ships crewed by less skilled sailors rested below them unseen, having been smashed against the many rocky pillars scattered around the steep cliffs that surrounded the isolated country.
That was of no concern for those who did not sail here on a wooden ship, however. Navigating such a dangerous stretch of sea was easy when your vessel was a kraken.
"This is Wano?" Uta asked, trying to see the top of the cliff beyond the low cloud cover to no avail.
"It is," Cherry agreed. "The ride up should be much smoother than my first time. If our ship weren't so sturdy, I reckon she wouldn't have survived."
A school of giant koi fish leapt out of the water, their dazzling scales filling Uta with a sense of wonder.
Until Takako snatched one of them up and ate it, at least.
"Hey, my girl's got to eat, too," Cherry chuckled.
Technically that wasn't true, as Takako could subsist entirely on Cherry's vital energy, but she wasn't going to deny her precious girl her snacks.
Takako didn't bother with the waterfall, instead directly scaling up the rocky cliffside. They crested over the top and out of the clouds to reveal a beautiful sunny day over Wano's gentle, crystal blue sea.
…
"What…?" Uta gawked.
She was just relishing having her feet planted on solid ground once again when she saw something that failed to meet her expectations of reality. Takako, a sea monster larger than any ship she's ever laid eyes upon, simply vanishing into Cherry's outstretched palm.
"What?" Cherry asked as if nothing was wrong.
"How did… Nevermind, I don't want to know," Uta said.
…
"Wow, they're still partying," Cherry observed the people in the Flower Capital. "I suppose I'd never want the party to end either, though, if I knew how much work was coming afterwards."
Kaido and Orochi had done a great deal of damage to both the country's infrastructure and culture, after all. Going back to the way things were before them was going to take a lot of patience and persistence.
"What are those called?" Uta pointed at a live band. "I've never seen those instruments before! Even Elegia didn't have any records about them!"
"We'll have to ask. I'm not familiar with them either," Cherry said.
Uta took off in a dead sprint for the musicians with hesitation. By the time Cherry caught up, she was already spewing a torrent of questions at the poor people, though it did seem that the interruption wasn't enough to put a damper on their good spirits. If anything, they looked pleased that someone was so excited about their art, albeit in an unexpected way.
"Cherry!" the familiar voice called for Cherry's attention. "Usopp."
Usopp was undoubtedly about to unleash a firehose of word vomit asking about where she had gotten off to when who was standing next to her. He lifted a shaking finger as he stammered, "U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-!"
"Yes, I'm Uta. Are you a fan?" Uta asked, appearing to be accustomed to this kind of reaction towards her.
"Of course I'm a fan! Can I have your autograph?! Wait, what can you sign?!" Usopp rifled through the few belongings he had on his person. "Can you sign my headphones?!"
"I don't have anything to write with, sorry," Uta apologised sheepishly.
Cherry produced a solid gold fountain pen that probably cost more to make than what the average family earned in a decade.
Uta accepted the pen and signed Usopp's headphones whilst he blubbered about not wanting to wake up from this dream.
*slap*
"Oi, what was that for?!" Usopp rubbed his reddening cheeks and glaring at Cherry.
"Now you know you aren't dreaming, dummy," Cherry smiled.
Usopp blinked owlishly, glancing back and forth between Cherry and Uta. "This is real? Uta is really here?"
"I sure am~!" Uta struck a pose, a peace hand sign over her eye and her tongue stuck out between her smiling teeth.
Usopp's eyes were almost bulging out of his head. He turned back to Cherry and brought her into a secretive huddle and hissed, "What did you do?!"
"Hey, what makes you think I did anything?" Cherry asked, furrowing her brows in offense.
"Did you?" Usopp asked, frowning.
"Yes," Cherry nodded. "But that doesn't mean that it's fair to assume as much!"
Usopp narrowed his eyes at her, but seeing that she had no intentions of elaborating and that her smirk only grew wider with each second, he gave up.
Usopp twirled around and asked, "So, Uta-chan! What brings you to Wano? The journey must have been difficult."
There was no answer and Uta was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did she go?!" Usopp half-screamed in panic. "Oh no, what if some remnant Beast Pirates find her first and kidnap her?!"
"Don't worry so much. The Beast Pirates still in the city would have grabbed anything valuable and ran as soon as they could. I doubt there are any more in the city. I can guarantee that there aren't any of their devil fruit or SMILE fruit users left," Cherry assured him. "Although, it would be best that we get her to chopper as soon as possible. I don't know what's left over in her system from those toxic mushrooms she ate."
Usopp immediately began panicking even more, because he of all people knew just how bad a toxic mushroom could be. Especially those found in the Grand Line.
It was a genuine concern too. Cherry's vital energy booster allowed her to survive and increased the body's natural ability to filter out toxins, but there were some toxins that resisted or couldn't be filtered out at all. Chopper would be able to handle things on that end, though, so Cherry wasn't worried.
Usopp was very worried. "We have to find her! What if she slowly asphyxiates in some dirty gutter?!"
"You're sounding a bit like Robin," Cherry looks him up and down. "Only a lot less cute."
"Now isn't the time for jokes!" Usopp seethed.
"Relax, she's right over there," Cherry pointed at the girl in question stepping out of a nearby shop looking dour.
Uta skipped over to Cherry and gave her a sad puppy dog look.
"You didn't realize they don't use Beri for money here, huh?" Cherry chuckled.
"No time!" Usopp tried to grab Uta by the arm to pull her away, only to find his arm twisted behind his back. "Ah-tatatata?!?!?!"
"Don't be rude, Usopp. We aren't in a hurry to have Chopper look her over. Here," Cherry fished out some silver taels and handed them to Uta. "Go buy whatever you want, then we should get you to our doctor."
"Doctor?" Uta accepted the unfamiliar currency. "Didn't you fix me?"
"Perhaps, but it's best to have Chopper give you the all clear just to be safe. You should look forward to it," Cherry gave her a knowing smile. "There isn't a doctor in the world with a better bedside manner than ours."